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燃烧我的卡路里

What Is a Calorie

翻译

我们时常听到卡路里这个词。人们常常会问:这块饼干有多少卡路里?

How many are burned by 100 jumping jacks, or long distance running, or fidgeting?

做100下开合跳、长跑、或是动动身体可以燃烧多少卡路里?

But what is a calorie, really, and how many of them do we actually need?

但到底什么才是卡路里?我们到底需要多少卡路里?

Calories are a way of keeping track of the body's energy budget.

卡路里是一种追踪身体热量消耗与摄取的方式。

A healthy balance occurs when we put in about as much energy as we lose.

当我们摄取的卡路里与我们消耗的量相同时,身体就达到平衡。

If we consistently put more energy into our bodies than we burn, the excess will gradually be stored as fat in our cells, and we'll gain weight.

如果我们长时间摄入过量的能量,则会变成脂肪储存在我们的细胞里,我们的体重也会因此增加。

If we burn off more energy than we replenish, we'll lose weight.

如果我们消耗的热量大于摄取的量,我们就会变瘦。

So we have to be able to mesure the energy we consume and use, and we do so with a unit called the calorie.

所以,我们必须知道如何计算我们摄取和消耗的热量,于是我们用一个叫卡路里的单位计算。

One calorie, the kind we mesure in food, also called a large calorie, is defined as the amount of energy it would take to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius.

卡路里是我们用来计算食物热量的单位,也称一大卡,其定义是可以将一公斤的水加热一摄氏度的热量。

Everything we consume has a calorie count, a measure of how much energy the item stores in its chemical bonds.

而我们吃的每样东西都有它的卡路里总量,它含有多少能量都储存在食物的化学键中。

The average pizza slice has 272 calories, there are about 78 in a piece of bread, and an apple has about 52.

普通的一块披萨有272卡热量,一块面包大约有78卡的热量,而一颗苹果约有52卡热量。

That energy is released during digestion, and stored in other molecules that can be broken down to provide energy when the body needs it.

这些热量会在消化过程中释放出来,接着被储存在其他分子中,而这些分子会在身体需要的时候分解并提供所需的能量。

It's used in three ways: about 10% enables digestion, about 20% fuels physical activity, and the biggest chunk, around 70%, supports the basic functions of our organs and tissues.

这些能量用在三个地方:约10%被用来进行消化作用,约20%用作身体的各项运动,而最大的部分,约79%的能量负责支撑我们身体器官和组织功能的运作。

That third usage corresponds to your basal metabolic rate, a number of calories you would need to survive if you weren't eating or moving around.

第三个与你的基础代谢率有关,即在不吃不动的情况下,身体需要消耗的基本热量。

Add in some physical activity and digestion, and you arrive at the official guidelines for how many calories the average person requires each day: 2000 for women and 2500 for men.

在加上一些运动和消化,你就能根据官方指导算出平一个人天需要摄取卡路里的标准值:女性需要2000卡热量,而男性需要2500卡热量。

Those estimates are based on factors like average weight, physical activity and muscle mass.

这些都是根据平均体重、运动量和肌肉量估算的。

So dose that mean everyone should shoot for around 2000 calories?

所以这意味着每个人都需要摄取大约2000卡的热量吗?

Not necessarily.

并非如此。

If you're doing an energy guzzling activity, like cycling the Tour de France, your body could use up to 9000 calories per day.

如果你做一个高耗能的运动,比如环法自行车赛,你的身体每天会消耗9000卡的热量。

Pregnancy requires slightly more calories than usual, and elderly people typicaly have a slower metabolic rate, energy is burned more gradually, so less is needed.

怀孕时会消耗比平常多一点的卡路里,而老年人的新陈代谢率较低,热量消耗的较慢,所以需要摄取的热量也相对较少。

Here's something else you should know before you start counting calories.

在计算卡路里前,你需要知道以下事项。

The calories counts on nutrition labels measure how much energy the food contains, not how much energy you can actually get out of it.

营养成分标签上计算的是食物所含的热量,而不是你实际能摄取到的热量。

Fibrous foods like celery and whole wheat take more energy to digest, so you'd actually wind up with less energy from a 100 calorie serving of celery than a 100 calorie serving of potato chips.

像芹菜和全麦这样的纤维性食物,需要更多的热量消化。所以,你吃100卡芹菜所摄取的热量要比吃100卡薯片来的少。

Not to mention the fact that some foods offer nutrients like protein and vitamins, while others provide far less nutritional value.

更不必说有些食物还包含蛋白质和维他命这样的营养成分,而有些食物的营养价值很低。

Eating too many of those foods could leave you overweight and malnourished.

如果吃太多这样的食物,你会营养过剩或营养不良。

And even with the exact food, different people might not get the same number of calories.

即使吃一样的食物,不同人摄取的卡路里也不同。

Variations in things like enzyme levels, gut bacteria, and even intestine length, means that every individual's ability to extract energy from food is a little different.

每个人都有着不同的消化酶含量、肠道细菌甚至肠道的长度,因此每个人吸收热量的能力也不同。

So a calorie is a useful energy measure, but to work out exactly how many of them each of us requires we need to factor in things like exercise, food type, and our body's ability to process energy.

所以卡路里是个使用的计算方式,但要算出每个人所需的热量,我们必须考虑其他因素,比如运动、食物种类以及我们身体的消化能力。

Good luck finding all of that on a nutrition label.

希望你能在营养成分表上找到所有的信息。

生词统计

单词音标翻译
fidgetˈfɪdʒɪtv. 烦躁、坐立不安、玩弄; n. 烦躁、烦躁不安的人
excessɪkˈsesn. 超过、超额、过度、过量、无节制; adj. 额外的、附加的
moleculeˈmɑːlɪkjuːln. 分子、微小颗粒、微粒
fuelˈfjuːəln. 燃料、刺激激素、(为身体提供能量的)食物; v. 得到燃料、刺激、煽动、推动
organˈɔːrɡənn. 器官、机构、风琴、嗓音
tissueˈtɪʃuːn. 组织、纸巾、薄纱
metabolicˌmetəˈbɑːlɪkadj. 变化的、新陈代谢的
guzzleˈɡʌzln. 狂饮、豪饮作乐; v. 狂饮、暴食、狼吞虎咽
nutritionnuˈtrɪʃnn. 营养、营养学、营养品
fibrousˈfaɪbrəsadj. 纤维的、纤维性的
celeryˈselərin. 芹菜
proteinˈproʊtiːnn. 蛋白质
malnourishedˌmælˈnɜːrɪʃtadj. 营养不良的、营养失调的
enzymeˈenzaɪmn. 酶
bacteriabækˈtɪriən. 细菌
extractˈekstræktv. 提取、提炼、索取、设法得到、摘录、取出、拔出; n. 摘录、引文

原文阅读

We hear about calories all the time. How many calories are in this cookie?

How many are burned by 100 jumping jacks, or long distance running, or fidgeting?

But what is a calorie, really, and how many of them do we actually need?

Calories are a way of keeping track of the body's energy budget.

A healthy balance occurs when we put in about as much energy as we lose.

If we consistently put more energy into our bodies than we burn, the excess will gradually be stored as fat in our cells, and we'll gain weight.

If we burn off more energy than we replenish, we'll lose weight.

So we have to be able to measure the energy we consume and use, and we do so with a unit called the calorie.

One calorie, the kind we measure in food, also called a large calorie, is defined as the amount of energy it would take to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius.

Everything we consume has a calorie count, a measure of how much energy the item stores in its chemical bonds.

The average pizza slice has 272 calories, there are about 78 in a piece of bread, and an apple has about 52.

That energy is released during digestion, and stored in other molecules that can be broken down to provide energy when the body needs it.

It's used in three ways: about 10% enables digestion, about 20% fuels physical activity, and the biggest chunk, around 70%, supports the basic functions of our organs and tissues.

That third usage corresponds to your basal metabolic rate, a number of calories you would need to survive if you weren't eating or moving around.

Add in some physical activity and digestion, and you arrive at the official guidelines for how many calories the average person requires each day: 2000 for women and 2500 for men.

Those estimates are based on factors like average weight, physical activity and muscle mass.

So dose that mean everyone should shoot for around 2000 calories?

Not necessarily.

If you're doing an energy guzzling activity, like cycling the Tour de France, your body could use up to 9000 calories per day.

Pregnancy requires slightly more calories than usual, and elderly people typically have a slower metabolic rate, energy is burned more gradually, so less is needed.

Here's something else you should know before you start counting calories.

The calories counts on nutrition labels measure how much energy the food contains, not how much energy you can actually get out of it.

Fibrous foods like celery and whole wheat take more energy to digest, so you'd actually wind up with less energy from a 100 calorie serving of celery than a 100 calorie serving of potato chips.

Not to mention the fact that some foods offer nutrients like protein and vitamins, while others provide far less nutritional value.

Eating too many of those foods could leave you overwieght and malnourished.

And even with the exact food, different people might not get the same number of calories.

Variations in things like enzyme levels, gut bacteria, and even intestine length, means that every individual's ability to extract energy from food is a little different.

So a caloire is a useful energy measure, but to work out exactly how many of them each of us requires we need to factor in things like exercise, food type, and our body's ability to process energy.

Good luck finding all of that on a nutrition label.